City Council sells old DPW building to Burhop entity

The old Department of Public Works building at 100 Davis St. was sold by the Belleville City Council to a company to be formed later by Sam Arndt and Leah Stempky of Burhop Collision. This was at Monday’s regular council meeting.
This property is sandwiched between two properties owned by Burhop Collision and has been vacant for from 20 to 25 years due to contamination by an underground tank installed by the city.
The city accepted the $50,000 offer to purchase the property and the company, which is to be formed later, would assume the baseline environmental responsibility.
City Manager Jason Smith recommended the sale be approved in order to remove a property the city has no interest in retaining or maintaining and return it to the tax rolls.
The agreement calls for $5,000 earnest money deposited into an escrow account upon execution of the purchase agreement. Then the buyer has 60 days to perform due diligence and close on the property “as is” within the next ten days or terminate the agreement.
The city attorney had recommended advertising the proposed sale of property and it was advertised in the newspaper of record. Burhop was the only response, Smith said.
Burhop had been trying to purchase this property from the city over the years.
Department of Public Services Director Rick Rutherford said when state test wells were put in on the city property, a well also had to be put on the Burhop property.
Colette McClinton, a neighbor, said the alley behind the property is overgrown by brush and trees. She said Burhop has cars back there.
Mayor Ken Voigt said the alley could be vacated since it is never used. It runs east and west and each attached property would get half of the alley if it is vacated. He said this is something the city can look at.
In other business at the March 18 meeting, the council:
• After an hour of input from the audience and a lot of discussion, agreed to postpone the first reading of an amended ordinance on Animals and set a public hearing at the next meeting before proceeding;
• Agreed to postpone the first reading of an ordinance on Mobile Food Vending until the next meeting because of changes on zoning;
• Agreed to give 15-minute council interviews to the law firms that have submitted proposals for city attorney during the next meeting on April 1. This includes current attorneys Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho; along with Pentiuk, Couvreur & Kobiljak; The Kelly Firm; Pear, Sperling, Eggan & Daniels; and Meroueh & Hallman. Because there is a new council, it was determined that some contracts should be reassessed;
• Approved the fire department’s “Fill the Boot for Autism” fund activity at the corner of Main and High streets from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2. This is about the 10th year of the fund raiser;
• Approved recognizing the Jeremy D. Stovall Splurge Foundation Charitable Gaming License as a nonprofit organization in the city for the purpose of obtaining a charitable gaming license;
• Approved paying $9,768 to VC3 for department head laptops, along with dual monitors and docking stations, and just one monitor for the city manager as he already has a new monitor. These costs will be spread among the respective departments (elections/clerk/finance, building/DPS, police, and DDA) to cover the costs;
• Approved a three-year Sky Camera Agreement with WDIV to have the television company install and maintain one remotely controlled, high-definition, point-to-point connected WDIV camera on the tower at city hall and the city will be held harmless for any claims of damage caused by its equipment. The city grants access to its internet connection with one fixed or static IP address for camera operation. When asked what would happen if the city sold or tore down city hall, City Manager Smith said the agreement can be terminated. He said he suggested to WDIV that the library roof might be a better place and was told the library was WDIV’s first choice and city hall was Plan B. They found that the library roof didn’t have the angle they wanted to the south end of town for the Belleville High School football field;
• Approved accounts payable of $669,283.77 and the following departmental expenditures in excess of $500: to Barnett Roofing & Siding, $2,500 to repair cold barn roof for the DPS; to Blue Ribbon Contracting, $4,786 to repair a water main break at 145 Second St.; and to JW2 Fire Consultants, $5,063 for grant writing for three AFG grants for the fire department;
• Heard Smith say the Notification of Necessity for Jewett Drain from the Wayne County Drain Commissioner said the city and Van Buren Township will be liable to pay a portion of the cost of this cleaning and maintenance project. He said Jewett Drain does not run through Belleville proper so he is looking into this;
• Reviewed crime statistics through February and heard Police Chief Kris Faull say the department had no calls for service on St. Patrick’s Day;
• Heard Smith give a long report on bills being considered in Lansing, requests for funds he had sent to Senator Darrin Camilleri and Rep. Reggie Miller, the audit of last fiscal year started that day and will be presented in May, and a GIS project with Belleville High School and Eastern Michigan University working on plugging in information on water and sewer lines at no expense to the city;
• Heard Mayor Voigt announce the BHS Robotics team made it to the state finals. He also announced that the BYC is rehabilitating the old pump house at the corner of First and N. Liberty streets and it put in new windows and door and cleared brush on the lake side. He said the Belleville Area Garden Club has agreed to plant and maintain the area and now the Rotary’s Cozadd Foundation gave a grant for landscaping between $8,000 and $10,000. He said the DDA will be putting a bench there and the DPW is preparing the site for landscaping. He said there will be a dedication ceremony this summer; and
• Heard McClinton say FEMA is giving funds for those whose property was damaged by the storm and tornado last summer. She said those interested have until the first week of April to respond and she has a flyer posted on the window of Garden Fantasy on Main for more information.